days_unfolding

I stepped on Mimi this morning. Bad Mommy revisited. Zara was upset too.

I got us up on the new catalog system at work, a day early. And removed the capability to select books for the Normal campus. So I got a lot done in the last couple of days.

We're allowed to take books that we're getting rid of, and I scored a set of books about various art museums around the world. Nice coffee table books.

My boss gave me some peppermint white chocolate fudge and a gift card to a local coffee shop. That was very nice. I was pondering if I could cash out the gift card at the coffee place (I was kind of hoping that it was a Walmart gift card). but on the other hand, it would be nice to treat my mom to a chai. Given that I'm boarding the cats, I won't have much cash left over.

And now we're on Winter Break! I don't go back until January 3rd.

Oh, I've been following the news about the Amtrak derailment closely because I enjoy riding the train. Here's hoping that Amtrak and those who own the rails implement Positive Train Control quickly.

I had problems sleeping last night. I kept on waking up once an hour. Don't know why. As a consequence, I've been tired today, so I bought an extra bottle of soda, although I don't really want to spend lots of money on soda. But it did the trick.

I'm getting really tired of the project that we're working on at work, although we're making good progress. My part of the project involves scanning barcodes on a cart full of books, checking the call number of the book and fixing it if it needs fixing, and printing out the labels. Sometimes the labels don't print well, so I need to reprint the labels for those items. BORING. But it'll be good when we're done.

My plans for the long 4th of July weekend are shaping up. I think that I'll stay home on Saturday, the 1st, and sleep in and work on cleaning and organizing.

I learned about an exhibit about route 66 in Towanda (including Burma Shave signs! Yes, I remember them!), slightly NW of Bloomington. I also found out that there are gardens, including a Japanese garden, at a cultural center in Bloomington. And the gardens are free. So that's Sunday.

Monday, July 3rd, I'd like to go to Moraine View State Park, which has a couple of short hiking trails and a lake with a beach for swimming. My question is what would I do with my camera when I swim? I'm afraid that it will fry if I leave it in the car. (I have a small waterproof belt for keys and such.) Any ideas? I probably won't swim for very long.

Tuesday, July 4th, I want to go to Peoria. I want to eat lunch at Jonah's Seafood House. (I want to eat lunch there rather than dinner because it's kind of pricey, but oh, does it sound good.) Then I want to check out the botanical garden, and possibly the nature preserve. Then I'd like to see the fireworks show on the river if I can still get tickets. (I'm sure that there are places where you can see most of the fireworks for free, but I don't know the area.) That will leave a gap of time that I won't know what to do with, but I could bring a book and hole up in a coffeehouse for a few hours.

Anyway, I think that I should have a good time even though I can't go to Rockford or Galena. And except for the day in Peoria, what I'm doing is free!